


And In The End I'd Do It All Again

by thePetetoherPatrick



Category: Fall Out Boy
Genre: Abuse, Angst, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Fluff, Hybrid AU, M/M, Mpreg, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Smut, Species Discrimination
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-06
Updated: 2017-10-06
Packaged: 2018-09-15 04:38:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9219371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thePetetoherPatrick/pseuds/thePetetoherPatrick
Summary: The door opens and the guy that opens it has got to be the cutest guy I’ve ever seen. He’s short and porcelain skinned, with red hair that just peeks out from under his trucker cap. He has wide greeny-blue eyes and wear glasses. He the dorky kind of cute. He even has some serious sideburns. I won’t even dwell on the sweater with shorts and long socks. Still he’s cuter than I’d have expected, maybe he’s this Patrick guy’s little brother or something.~~~~~This is a different take on the Hybrid AU from Heathens. The story, characters, and even the Hybrids themselves are completely different but still just as cute.





	1. It Was The Summer of 2001...

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BlueRabbits](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueRabbits/gifts).



> Babe has been bugging the fuck outta me about this for a while now so I decided it was probably time to actually write it... ^-^ We'll see how it goes, I've got a lot of scenes planned it's just a matter of writing them and putting it all together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No you are not seeing things this has been edited...I have this lovely little sweetheart of an angel sitting on my shoulder now that was very bothered by my 1st person writing and offered to put what I have in 3rd so I can continue to write that way XD I'm getting into writing in 3rd anyway so it's all good THANK YOU ***saverockandsoulpunk***

_ Pete _

 

Pete knocks on the door at the address Joe had given him. He wasn’t sure about this whole band idea but it sounded like it could be fun. 

 

He knows Joe, but this Patrick guy was a mystery to him. Some guy Joe had met at a bookstore a while back, or so Joe had said.

 

He quickly checks his beanie and the piece of flat ribbon he borrowed from his mom that runs around his ribcage under his shirt. He doesn't have time to do anything else before the door opens;  the guy that opens it has got to be the cutest guy Pete’s ever seen. He’s short and porcelain skinned, with red hair that just peeks out from under his trucker cap. He has wide greeny-blue eyes blinking behind his glasses - the dorky kind of cute. He even has some serious sideburns.

 

Pete decides not to dwell on the sweater with shorts and long socks. Still, he’s cuter than Pete had expected, like maybe he’s this Patrick guy’s little brother or something.

 

“Can I help you?” he looks annoyed and Pete realizes he's been standing there like an idiot staring at him. 

 

“Oh, shit sorry, uh I’m Pete, I was told this was Patrick’s address but if Joe got it wrong I can just…” he manages to say, nervously wringing his hands together. Patrick looks so agitated, Pete really doesn't want to push his luck. No matter how cute this little guy is. 

 

“No, you’ve got the right place. I’m Patrick.” he offers his hand and Pete's mind blanks.  _ This is the drummer Joe met? Really?  _

 

“Oh, hi.” Pete shakes his hand as he moves to let Pete inside. 

 

“Joe is downstairs.” Patrick points towards a staircase into the basement before heading down himself. Pete follows him and is relieved to see Joe sitting there playing with his guitar. “So Joe says you’re a vocalist and a bass player.” 

 

“Yeah, vocalist is a loose term though. I think I mostly just scream. I can’t really sing.” Pete shrugs and shifts uncomfortably. 

 

“Well let’s see what we’ve got here.” Patrick says and moves behind his drum set, while Pete sets  down his bass case and gets set up to play. 

 

~~~~~

 

“Ok, now, can I say something here,” Pete says suddenly, setting down his bass to take a break, “I wanna hear Patrick sing.” 

 

Joe immediately looks at him with an eyebrow raised. “I saw him sitting there lip syncing everything I sang. He obviously does sing, so I wanna hear if he  _ can _ sing,” Pete insists. 

 

Patrick looks at him and curls in on himself a bit. He doesn’t seem at all fond of this idea. “Maybe that’s a good idea… if he can actually sing it opens up a lot of doors with what kind of music we can do… no offence, Pete, ” Joe nods in agreement and Patrick shoots him a look that absolutely says  _ fuck you, traitor! _

 

It’s two against one and he sighs in irritation before standing up to move to the mic. Joe strums some chords on his guitar, giving Patrick something to sing along to. When the kid opens his mouth and starts singing Pete is completely blown away.

He has a rich and beautiful voice, and a hell of a range as made evident by Joe testing him with different notes in the song he plays. When Joe stops playing and Patrick stops singing, Pete just gapes at him.

 

“What?” he says uncomfortably, watching Joe and Pete nervously. 

 

“We need a new drummer because you are too good a singer to be sitting behind a drum set.” Pete shakes his head as if to clear it like an etch-a-sketch. “I’m gonna give Hurley a call and see what he’s up to these days.” 

 

“Andy Hurley?” Patrick asks curiously and Pete nods. “You know him?” 

 

“Yeah, I’ve been around the band scene a while, we’ve crossed paths a few times.  _ You _ know him?” Pete echoes the question. 

 

“Yeah, I was in a band with him.” Patrick looks at his feet. 

 

“Sweet, so he’ll already be cool with you then.” Pete grins widely and Patrick nods. 

 

~~~~~

 

Andy was indeed cool with Patrick and seemed happy Pete had met Patrick “finally”. 

Patrick, however, upon observation, did not seem cool with  _ Pete _ . This makes Pete wonder if maybe he  _ knows _ .

 

Hybrids aren’t always accepted. A lot of humans see them as no better than the animal whose traits they have, and thus treat them as if they aren’t human too. Patrick isn’t being outright rude or anything like that but he certainly is avoiding getting too close to Pete and doesn’t say much if he can help it - even though they've been practicing together with the band for a month. 

 

They break away to take a welcome rest , Joe and Andy going to find food and leaving Pete downstairs with Patrick, who immediately starts focusing on something else. Pete sighs and sits down on the little sofa even though that kind of hurts to do. He forces himself to focus on the floor, watching the pattern in the carpet. 

 

He looks over at Patrick after a while and he’s fiddling with his guitar. He’s oddly talented with so many different instruments. They figured out that if Patrick is singing and you give him a guitar while he’s doing that, it works out so much better. Pete watches him fiddling with one of the strings where it was sitting funny. 

 

“Hey, Patrick…” Pete says. He's not sure why he's decided to try and talk to him but he can't really take it back now. 

 

He looks up at the bassist with a startled expression. “Yeah, Pete?” he asks. 

 

“Uh...I...why are you...I’m sorry, I guess it just feels like you’re avoiding me as much as possible. If you don’t like me just say something, you don’t have to put up with me I can leave…” Pete blurts, before sighing and looking at the floor again. 

For a while Patrick doesn’t say anything. When Pete looks back up at him, he looks  _ frightened _ . He doesn’t answer, just takes off upstairs.

 

Pete feels a sting in his eyes and a sinking feeling in his chest. Patrick doesn’t like him. 


	2. The Captain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I felt awful when Pete didn’t show up at practice for the next few days. Joe seems worried and keeps trying to text him but isn’t getting a response. Andy has been trying too but isn’t getting anything either. We need Pete and it’s my fault he’s not here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so I want to say that I'd started writing this in like March or May of last year, it was the original idea for Heathens. But it irritated me, I didn't know what I was writing so I backspaced the whole thing, changed the story and changed a couple things about the Hybrids...this is the original AU I came up with, just a slightly different story this time. New life breathed into it ^-^ it was BlueRabbits that convinced me I should pick this back up and try again purely through her enthusiasm about the idea.

_ Patrick _

 

Patrick felt awful when Pete didn’t show up at practice for the next few days. Joe seemed worried and kept trying to text him but there was no response. Andy has been trying too but wasn't getting anything either. 

 

They needed Pete and it was Patrick's fault he’s not there. If he'd just told Pete:it’s not that Patrick didn't like him, because he did like him. He seemed so cool, and is funny and awesome to hang out with. 

 

Patrick was just terrified of what he’d do if he found out that Patrick was a Hybrid. He hid his ears under his hat and his tail under his waistband so Pete wouldn’t see them. 

 

When Patrick was younger he was so small that when the human kids he went to school with beat him up for being a Hybrid, he'd come home with broken bones. 

 

His Mom often tried to get the kids in trouble at school but people rarely actually did anything to help them. That’s just the way it was and Patrick quickly learned to hide what he was from strangers until he knew how they felt about Hybrids.

 

Joe and Andy both knew and they were thankfully both fine with it. They kept an eye on Patrick when he'd shifted so they didn’t sit on him or something.

 

His history teacher in school was always the kindest. He taught the class about Hybrids in an attempt to get humans to understand. It never worked but Patrick himself learned enough from his mini-lectures. 

 

~~~~~

 

_ “Alright class, settle down.” Mr. Gallagher calls out to the class. He seems almost agitated and done with today already even though it was our first class of the day. The class generally listens to Mr. Gallagher or as he jokingly prefers, Captain.  _

 

_ He's fun, and manages to make an otherwise boring subject fun. This is his ship, the class are his crew, and he is the Captain leading them on a new adventure into the past every day. Or, so he says.  _

 

_ The class quiets quickly and he stands at the front, looking at everyone. “Today class is going to be a little different. We are going to be talking about something that is both old and new. It continues in our society today and is all around us. But I want to start by asking a few questions.” _

 

_ The entire class sits at attention, all 20 students, eager to see what it is he’s got planned for today. He wanders over to his desk and grabs a piece of chalk. He write on the board the number 21. Then he looks at them and changes it to 19. Patrick realizes there are two empty desks, two people away. The number is the number of people in the room.  _

 

_ “Ok...let’s start really simple…” He says sounding kind of tired. “How many of you can name all 3 species Hybrids?” he asks.  _

 

_ The class seems to look at each other in confusion. Some people, including Patrick, raise their hands. He counts and writes the number 9 on the board under the 19. “Ok, that’s about half. Now I want someone to actually name them for us.” He picks someone sitting in the back but Patrick doesn't look to see who.  _

 

_ “Avians, Lupus, and Felines.” a girl’s voice names each of them.  _

 

_ “And that means…” the Captain prompts.  _

 

_ “Bird, Wolves, and Cats.” the same girl responds.  _

 

_ The Captain nods and sits in a chair. “Very good, and what differentiates them from Humans?” He gets nothing, no one is willing to say it. “They bear the traits of those species of animals.” he sighs, after giving up waiting for an answer. “Now, what else can you tell me about the Hybrids?”  _

 

_ “My mom said they can actually shift into the animal they're supposed to be,” _

_ a guy on the other side of the room says. _

 

_ “Very good. Yes, Hybrids can change into the animal they are supposed to be, whether that means a tiny blue bird or a mighty wolf. They start to be able to do this at what age?” The Captain asks. He gets no one again so he picks someone. He picks Patrick.  _

 

_ “Uh, 16 sir. They start shifting at 16,” Patrick mumbles and keeps his head low. His ears covered by a hat and his tail tucked safely away, Patrick is 15. The countdown has well and truly  started for him.  _

 

_ “Very good. Yes, their first shift is at about 16, some sooner and some later but usually about then. When they first start shifting they will turn into the baby form of whatever it is that they I are. A...let’s say a Feline for example...will start out as a small kitten.” Captain looks around the room to make sure everyone is following. “Over time the Shifted form will age at a much much slower rate than the human. A Feline’s shifted form might reach maturity at around 20 to 22 and ages even slower from there.”  _

 

_ Someone must have raised their hand at the back of the room because the Captain stops and smiles. He loves when the class gets into the discussion enough to ask questions. He nods for them to go ahead, it’s the same girl from earlier. “I heard a rumour that some of the male Hybrids have a defect that makes them kind of female.”  _

 

_ “Ah, the Carrier gene. It doesn’t make them female, they are still entirely male but it allows them to carry a child the way a female might but with a much more complicated biological system. It is a 1 in 500 chance of a male Hybrid being a Carrier, and only slightly more common if it runs in the family.” Captain nods before quickly moving on. “Now, I have another question. How many of you know a Hybrid or have met one?” he asks and counts as some of them raise their hands. He writes the number 5 on the board under the 9.  _

 

_ He and Patrick both know the 5 is wrong. It should be 19 out of the 19 people in the room but they don’t know that. “How do you know these people?”  _

 

_ He gestures to someone near Patrick and this time he looks. It’s Joe. Patrick cringes. “He’s a best friend of mine,” he says.  _

 

_ “And which species is he?” the Captain prompts him.  _

 

_ “A Feline,” Joe elaborates comfortably and receives a few dirty looks.  _

 

_ “And how can you tell that?” the Captain asks.  _

 

_ “His ears and tail, his behaviour sometimes,” Joe says and Patrick can't help but wonder what he's done in front of Joe that seems Feline to him.  _

 

_ “Is he old enough to shift?” the Captain tilts his head to the side. Joe shakes his head. “And how is he treated when people see what he is?”  _

 

_ “He got beat up a lot when he was younger, at our old school.” Joe winces. “He used to have broken bones a lot of the time. He hides it now, has for a long time now.” _

 

_ The Captain nods. “Hybrids face a lot of cruelty at the hands of humans. Felines and Lupus are spotted by their ears and tails. Avians are harder to hide, since their wings don’t tuck inside clothing very well.” He stands in front of the board as he continues.  _

 

_ “In history there are many examples of the abuse toward Hybrids. Centuries of records suggesting a hybrid specific slave trade.” He dives into the history portion of today’s lesson.  _

 

_ At the end of class he assigns an essay on the history of Hybrid treatment in different cultures around the world. When the bell rings he says goodbye before addressing Patrick specifically. “Please stay behind for a minute, Patrick.”  _

 

_ Patrick sighs and waits until everyone is gone. He stands beside his desk. _

 

_ “I hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable today. I try to make a point in doing this unit with every class, hoping if they are educated maybe the abuse will lessen.”  _

 

_ “No, it’s alright Captain.” Patrick shakes his head.  _

 

_ “Patrick, when is your sixteenth birthday?” he asks.  _

 

_ “In April.” Patrick looks at his feet.  _

 

_ “Only a couple months away, then.” he nods. “If you find yourself in distress or unable to stop yourself from shifting while you are learning to control it my door is always open and this room is a safe place for you. Okay?” he smiles.  _

 

_ “Thank you, Captain.” Patrick smiles back and the professor dismisses him after handing him an excuse slip for being late to his next class.  _

 

_ “Patrick,” he says and Patrick stops to look at him. “Your tail is showing a bit. Try tucking it in the waistband of your jeans,” he tells Patrick, who nods in embarrassed thanks before running off to the bathroom to fix it. _

 

~~~~~

 

Remembering, Patrick shook his head. He’d had to go to his room too many times to count in his school years. He later found out that the teacher was so kind towards Hybrids and helped raise awareness for their safety because his son had married a Feline. 

 

They'd had a son who’d passed away only the day after he was born because the nurses on duty ignored and neglected him because he was a Hybrid. The Captain was pained by the loss of his first grandson and decided people needed to learn. The nurses were never punished in any way for their actions. 

 

Patrick was out of his train of thought by Joe jumping on him. “Woah, Joe! What the heck man?” Joe sprawled out over his lap. 

 

“Now that I have your attention back from whichever section of Lala land it was in, you should go talk to Pete. He won’t listen to me or Andy.” Joe looked up at Patrick. 

 

“But Joe, what if he…” Patrick groaned, but Joe shushed him with his hands. 

 

“He  _ won’t _ but you don’t have to tell him, just talk to him. Tell him you don’t hate him and that you just have a hard time warming up to new people, that’s all.” Joe shrugged. “Or something like that.”

 

Patrick couldn't argue with that. It was the best thing he could say without lying. It just wasn't the whole truth. “Well how do I get a hold of him then?” 

 

“He won’t answer his phone, you’re gonna have to go to him to talk to him right now.” Andy shook his head. “I’ll text you his address right now. That way you can't forget.” 

  
Andy pulled out his phone to send it . A moment later Patrick's phone went off and he had an address. “We’re gonna head out. You go talk to him and bring him back to the band.” Patrick nodded and look at the address again. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I left a long ass note at the start of the chapter but I thought I'd share this with you...
> 
> Mr. Gallagher (The Captain)...was actually my history teacher when I was 15, he was actually an amazing teacher and we actually called him Captain. He gave each and every student a nickname and he always remembered what he called them. He was a friendly old man who wore a bright coloured shirt and a ridiculous patterned tie everyday. I was the first in my class to get a nickname. He called me "Chip" after one of the announcers from Woodstock because I came in the first day listening to 50s-60s rock/pop (I love Elvis and the song "Rockin' Robin" among many many others...fight me or I can give you my playlist) and with sheet music sticking out of my notebooks. He AND his youngest son (who I worked with for a few months in a restaurant I was a busgirl at, he was the bartender, he knew who I was before I knew who he was and called me Chip when he saw me not my actual name) call me that whenever they see me now. 
> 
> While he is a real person, the story I gave him here is completely made up for the purpose of the fic. He was my favourite teacher and when I tried to think of a kind-hearted teacher for Patrick he was all I could thing of. ^-^ <3 Good teachers make such a difference. Good teachers were why I got so into History and English.


	3. Pawprints

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “That makes sense I guess. I can understand that.” I nod. “I’m sorry, I guess I overreacted.” 
> 
> “No, I would’ve thought the same thing.” Patrick looks at his feet. “Friends?” he asks and offers his hand. I smile widely. 
> 
> “Friends.” I confirm and take his hand but instead of shaking it I hug him gently.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the Chapter is called Pawprints because I wrote most of it while listening to Pawprints by Saywecanfly...good song, you should give it a listen ^-^ his music is amazing
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57YJnNl9Qxw
> 
> Hope you like the chapter <3

_ Pete _

 

Pete sits on his mom’s couch watching the Nightmare Before Christmas in his pajamas. Everyone else is out: his mom is at work and his younger siblings are both at school. 

 

A knock on the door catches his attention and he grabs his beanie off the coffee table. Quickly tugging it on, he tucks his tail into his sweater as he walks out to the door. Patrick is standing on my porch. 

 

“Uh...hi Pete...look, can we talk?” he asks. Pete nods carefully and lets him inside. He doesn’t go far. “I don’t hate you, Pete, I think you’re pretty cool actually I just have a really hard time with new people.” 

 

“That makes sense I guess. I can understand that... I’m sorry, I think I might have overreacted.” 

 

“No, I would’ve thought the same thing.” Patrick looks at his feet. “Friends?” he asks and offers his hand. Pete smiles widely. 

 

“Friends,” he confirms and takes his hand but instead of shaking it, Pete takes the poor boy by surprise and yanks him into a hug. 

 

~~~~~

 

Pete sits on the sofa with Patrick at his place. He’s actually really fun to hang out with. The pair have already grown so much closer since he came to Pete's house. They hang out even when there's no band practice. 

 

His mom is a kind woman who seems to like Pete, and Pete makes every effort to be kind and polite to her in return. He learns that Patrick has two older siblings, and even  meets both of them at dinner.

 

Joe and Andy seem particularly pleased about Pete and Patrick getting along but he just shrugs it off, assuming they prefer it to the awkward tension before. 

 

Pete finds out pretty quickly that Patrick is very cuddly. He leans against Pete when they sit beside each other, although he doesn’t let Pete put his arm around him. He also never isn’t wearing his hat. He  _ says _ he just really likes his hat but Pete doesn't know. He doesn't question it though, because he could ask about Pete's beanie and he's not prepared to tell Patrick about that yet.

 

~~~~~

 

Pete picks up the spare key from under the little flower pot and unlocks the front door of Patrick’s place. They're practicing today but Pete needed to get out of the house so he figured he'd come over early. 

 

Mrs. Stumph isn’t home today and she had Patrick put that spare key there for Pete. He walks in and peeks into the living room. No Patrick in sight but it’s also really quiet. 

 

There is, however, the tiniest little orange kitten curled up on a throw pillow on the couch. Pete didn’t even know Patrick  _ had _ a cat. He smiles and moves towards the tiny creature.

 

He sits on the floor in front of the couch and listen to the tiny purr coming from the kitten, trying not to scream at how  _ tiny _ it is. He reaches out to stroke its soft fur between its ears. It seems to wake up and lean into the touch but doesn’t open its eyes. Pete gasps quietly at the fuzzy bundle of absolute adorableness. 

 

He scratches lightly, figuring that’s what it wants, and the purr gets a little louder. It let out the cutest and tiniest little meow Pete's ever heard. 

 

“You are a cute little thing aren’t you,” Pete coos goofily, “I wonder why I’ve never seen you when I’ve been here before.” 

 

At the noise, its eyes fly open to look at Pete. It looks terrified and suddenly takes off up the stairs. Pete arches an eyebrow and go after it. It goes through a little cat door in the door Pete knows as Patrick’s room. He's never been in there before but he knows where it is. 

 

He hears a noise inside and looks around the hall, not wanting to go in there without Patrick’s permission but desperate to see what’s wrong with the kitten. He looks at the hall and the other doors all have cat doors in them too.

 

They let their cat have free roam of the whole house, and it must not be new, which that begs the question of why has Pete never seen it before. “Come on back out little kit, I’m not gonna hurt you,” Pete says softly and the door opens. Pete comes face to face with Patrick. “Oh, I didn’t know where you were. I think I scared your cat but I didn’t do anything…” 

 

He stands for a second and looks at Patrick’s hat.  _ No...he...there’s no way...he couldn’t be...could he? _ His mind starts to race. He reaches up to take away Patrick's hat and he ducks away from Pete's grabbing hand.

 

He looks distressed now and Pete furrows his eyebrows. He’s backed away from the door and out of reach so Pete steps into his room. He reaches up again, quickly so he can’t get away before Pete snatches the hat. 

 

He shrinks away from me as Pete reveals two cute, fuzzy orange ears. Pete is smiling, but he looks down at the other hybrid’s face and he looks terrified. “Please...don’t hurt me, ” He whimpers and Pete's heart breaks. 

 

“No, Patrick, I would never.” Pete reaches out towards him but he instinctively steps away. “No, hold on, Patrick, look at me,” Pete says softly and he looks up, still shaking and scared, but his eyes widen as Pete reaches up and takes off his beanie to reveal his own ears. 

 

The feline freezes and stares, his pretty green-blue eyes widening impossibly. He reaches out slowly and Pete ducks my head so he can touch them. His guitar roughed hands are surprisingly gentle against Pete's ears. Pete looks up at him and sees a tiny smile. 

 

“You’re a Hybrid too.” he says finally. “Do Joe and Andy know?” 

 

“Yeah, they do. That...you don’t  _ have _ a cat do you? That was  _ you _ .” Pete can't control himself, smiling widely. “You are such a  _ cute _ tiny kitten! Oh my god your little purr and that tiny meow!” he squeals, and Patrick rolls his eyes. Pete pulls him into a tight hug and he is tense for only a second before he relaxes into it and wraps his arms around the other hybrid in return. They just stand like that for a while. 

 


	4. The Kitten and The Wolf

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You ready for this.”
> 
> “Hell yeah.” He grins back. “You?” I nod...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I most certainly did not just write the last couple hundred words of this chapter at the last second to meet my update deadline like I did with all my assignments in high school.....no I would never.....lmfao yeah I sometimes work better and faster when I have a deadline but hey I'm technically not late on the update yet.....^-^

_Patrick_

 

Patrick ran as fast as his clumsy, stumpy little legs would carry him down the stairs to the living room. Pete wouldn’t quit fucking tickling him with his snout.

 

He was _huge_ compared to Patrick's tiny little kitten form. He forgot that Pete was almost 22, so his shifted form was already that of an adolescent wolf.

 

Patrick hid under the couch and peeked out, seeing the wolf struggle down the stairs. He mewed quietly to himself and laughed inside his head at the clumsy dog.

 

Pete got to the bottom and padded into the living room. He looked around and didn't see Patrick anywhere. Then he lifted his head and sniffed at the air and Patrick backed up under the couch.

 

Suddenly his snout emerged under the couch and he was gently pulling Patrick out by the scruff of his neck. He meowed in protest at him and squirmed a bit. Pete wasn't hurting, but the kitten just knew he was going to get tickled again, and he wanted down so he could run away.

 

Pete set the tiny creature down incredibly gently on the floor just in front of his paws, then knocked him on his side to nuzzle at him and it _tickled_. Patrick squirmed away and meowed indignantly at him, grabbing onto Pete's snout with his sharp little paws at one point, not hurting him but holding on, in hopes he’d cut it out. He squeaked angrily and meowed at him and he just let out a funny laugh-like barking sound.

 

Patrick batted at his nose and he sneezed at the little cat. He ran off again under the coffee table but it only took two steps and the much bigger wolf was caught up, knocking Patrick over again. His attempts to roll away from Pete's grasp mostly failed, as there was only so far he could get in so little time with such a tiny body and little legs.

 

Patrick heard a laugh and both hybrids looked up to see Andy and Joe standing there. “Guess the cat is out of the bag then,” Joe laughed.

 

Andy glared at him. “Did you just?”

 

“Oh, I most definitely did,” Joe grinned widely and then bent down to put his hand near the floor. Patrick smugly got in one last shot at Pete’s snout and ran over to Joe to put his little paws in the boy’s hand. He was only barely _bigger_ than Joe's hand.

 

He would never get very big, they figured -  a bit bigger but not a lot. He was just small. Joe scooped him up and laughed before hugging the kitten to his chest. Patrick would hate to admit it, but he absolutely loved being cuddled in kitten form. He could never explain why, it was just nice.

 

“We got practice to do though dude, so we need human Patrick and Pete back.”

 

Patrick felt something nudging under Joe’s arm and whipped his head around in the jumpy way he had when he was only a tiny kitten and his flight instinct was hypothetically the only thing keeping him alive. His breathing and tiny heart quickly slowed when he looked over to see Pete’s snout poking at his side. In return, Patrick swatted at him. By way of reply, he just nudged Patrick's paw. Patrick batted at his nose a few times and Joe laughed.

 

“Ok, now that is cute as hell,” Andy agreed from behind them. Patrick turned around to put his paws up like he was reaching for Andy, who reached over and took him from Joe. “I’m gonna take him upstairs so he can shift and get dressed, and I’ll drop Pete’s clothes down from wherever they are,” Andy explained.

 

He held the fragile cat in his hands like he was made of glass as he carried Patrick up the stairs and set him down outside his room so he could streak through his little cat door, tail flashing behind him.

 

Inside, he let himself shift, letting the tingling feeling spread throughout his body. After getting dressed again, he opened his door to find Andy still there.

 

“Pete’s clothes are in the bathroom, I was a kitten when he got here and I ran up here to get away from him. I shifted back and then he found out what I am. When he told me he was a Hybrid too I kind of wanted to see what he looked like as a wolf. So he went in there to shift,” Patrick told Andy. “I shifted back to kitten while he was in there and then he decided to tickle me.”

 

Andy nodded and went to grab Pete’s clothes. True to his word he stood at the top of the stairs and dropped them down. Patrick expected Joe to catch them but instead heard Pete’s voice call up to say thank you.

 

_Is he standing downstairs, in my house, in front of Joe...naked???_ Patrick's mind reeled. _What the hell?!_

 

Joe was never shy and didn't much care who saw him, or who he saw, but _seriously_.

 

“He’s clothed, you can come down here now,” Joe’s voice called up and Patrick heard Pete laugh at him. Andy grabbed Patrick's arm and they headed downstairs.

 

Patrick didn’t hide his ears or tail this time and neither did Pete. Patrick smiled widely at the sight of the velvety ears sticking out of his friend's flat ironed hair. He looked good with the beanie, but he looked better without it. Patrick's tail twitched and he had to look away.

 

“Let’s see if we can’t work out the kinks on that song. Do you have any more lyrics, Pete?” Andy asked, and Pete nods.

 

“When do I not?” Pete chuckled and Patrick smiled. He preferred singing his friend’s lyrics a lot more than doing covers.

 

~~~~~

 

They were setting up for their official first gig as Fall Out Boy in the tiny venue. Pete was talking to Joe about something as they set up the crap for the guitars and Pete’s bass. Andy was minding his own business fiddling with his drum set.

 

They had a few fans now but nothing big, just some people who liked the noise they made. Mostly just in the punk rock community in Chicago but it seemed to be growing. Patrick still couldn't believe that anyone was listening at all. Pete said they were bound to listen when they heard his voice, but Patrick thought he was just being ridiculous. In his own opinion, Patrick's voice was nothing special.

 

Patrick felt someone touch his head and jumped.

 

“Easy, Trick, just trying to help. Your hat is sitting funny and your fluffy little ear was sticking out a bit.”,Pete tucked the wayward ear back under Patrick's hat and smiled at him.

 

“Oh, crap, thanks.” Patrick looked up at him and suddenly felt like a kitten again. He shook off the feeling and pushed away the tingling. He couldn't shift right now. “You ready for this?”

 

“Hell yeah, ” He grinned back. “You?”

 

Patrick felt himself nod as Joe pulled his attention away to set up his guitar, finally, now that he was done screwing around with his. “We’ve got this.” Pete smiled.

 

~~~~~

 

They got off the little stage and stumbled out to their shitty little van an hour or so later. The people that showed up were really energetic and it was fun to play the show.

 

They weren't playing too far from home so they could just go home now, maybe an hour drive at the most. Joe was the one driving tonight, so Patrick was allowed to slide into the back seat, Pete  following beside him. He was watching Patrick with a wry smile.

 

“What?” Patrick whined at him.

 

“Your hair is sticking out of your hat funny and your hat is kind of crooked...” Pete giggled, but Patrick's eyes went wide, wondering how long it’d been like that. Pete saw the look on his face. “No, no it’s ok, your ears aren’t sticking out, but it is cute.” Patrick relaxed and made a face at him. He was most certainly _not_ cute.

 

“You shush,” Patrick shook his head as Pete leaned over to sprawl across his friend's lap. “Ew, get off me you gross sweaty dog!” Patrick whined, and he laughed.

 

“Don’t yowl at me. You make many adorable noises but that one is far less cute,” Pete chided, ignoring Patrick pushing at his head, trying to get him away.

 

“You are disgusting right now though.” Patrick made a face.

 

“Says you.”

 

Patrick had to give up there, because Pete was probably right. He settled into Patrick's lap smugly. The rest of the ride home was quiet except Andy and Joe talking at a barely audible level in the front seat.

 

They pulled up at Andy’s place and he jumped out with a wave before taking off up to his apartment with some other guys he knew.

 

They headed towards Pete’s house and this time it was silent. Joe looked at Patrick in the rearview mirror and smiled but didn't say anything. Joe quietly pulled up in front of Pete’s Mom’s house and when Pete sat up and looked out the window he groaned. Patrick looked down at him and frowned.

 

“Fucking hate that asshole,” he muttered under his breath.

 

“What’s the matter, Pete?” Patrick asked quietly.  

 

“My mom’s stupid boyfriend. He’s an asshole.” Pete buried his face against Patrick's thigh. He hadn't actually met Pete’s family but he’d never had any complaints before and Patrick didn’t even know his parents weren’t together anymore. He realized Pete didn't ever actually talk about his dad at all.

 

“You wanna spend the night with me? My mom loves you, she said you could stay over whenever you want,” Patrick offered shyly and played with the hair at the back of Pete's neck where it was a little longer. He nodded weakly and Patrick met with with Joe, who pulled away without a word.

 

Patrick down at Pete to see he’d got his eyes closed. It kind of worried Patrick about just how much of an asshole this boyfriend really was.

 

They pulled up to Patrick's house about fifteen minutes later. “Thanks Joe, see you.”  Patrick said, trying to get Pete to sit up and get out of the van.

 

“You sure this is ok, Patrick?” Pete hesitated at the front door.

 

“My mom wouldn’t offer if it wasn’t and it’s not like you don’t have a spare key to our house set out for you. She wasn’t kidding when she said you were welcome any time.” Patrick slipped his hand into Pete's and lead him into the house. His mom happened to be sitting in the kitchen reading over something for work. “Hey, Mom.”

 

“Hey sweetheart, how was the show? Oh, hey Pete.” she smiled warmly at the sight of him and her ears stood at attention.

 

“It was good, Pete is gonna spend the night, ok?” Patrick made sure to ask her just to be sure.

 

“Absolutely! Pete, honey, you can stay here any time you want, alright? You are always welcome here.” she smiled and got up to hug him.

 

“Thank you, Mrs. Stumph.” He allowed her to hug him and hugged back kind of awkwardly.

 

“No problem, sweetie. And I’ve told you before, call me Pat.” she let go of him. “It’s late, off to bed with you two.”

 

“Come on.” Patrick took his hand again and gave a gentle tug. He shook his head like a dog shaking off water and followed Patrick up to his room. “I don’t know if any of my pajama pants will fit you but some of Kevin’s might.”

 

“I’m fine, Patrick, ” he argued in a rather defeated sounding voice.

 

“No, you really are not,” Patrick frowned disapprovingly. He didn't think he likes sad Pete as much. It bothered him that anything could get to his friend so much. He was so happy before.

 

“You stink for one thing, so you need a shower. And it is not healthy to sleep in jeans, especially not ones as tight as you wear them… I’ll be right back.” Patrick wandered off to Kevin’s room and peeked inside. He knew his brother  wasn't  home but still checked before he went in and pulled a pair of sweatpants out of his dresser that looked big enough for Pete.

 

He went back to his room and grabbed Pete, hauled him over to the bathroom, and gave him a fluffy towel. “I presume you can manage the rest.” Pete actually laughed at that and closed the door. Patrick went to wait in his room, getting out of his pajama pants so he could jump in after Pete.

 

Pete came back ten minutes later wearing Kevin’s sweatpants and his chest and hair still a little damp. Patrick had to bite his lip and duck his head so Pete wouldn't see his blush.

 

He  grabbed his clothes and skittered off to the bathroom. Setting the temperature to a good warm setting, he started to get undressed. The hybrid was not really a fan of the water whenever he'd first get in but after a minute or two he could get over it and deal.

 

He forced himself to inch into the spray and try not to cringe as it hit his ears. He hissed quietly and growled at it but didn't move, and after a minute or two he managed to relax enough to enjoy the feeling of the warm water.

 

He just stood there for a while and he didn't even realize he'd been there for a while till there was a knock on the door and Pete’s voice calling. It made him jump and his mind blank. He felt his body tense and shift.

 

When he screamed, it turned into a stupid little meow. His sensitive ears heard Pete curse and the door open. The tub made it really hard to get away from the spray of the water that was fine to a human but could drown a kitten. He  mewed and cried as he frantically struggled to get the hell away from it.

 

The water stopped and Patrick could feel a hand scoop him up, and then he was being wrapped in a towel. He looked around in a panic and saw Pete cradling him. “I’m so sorry I scared you, you could’ve drowned! Fuck!” he ranted to himself as he carefully tried to dry the tiny kitten off. Patrick couldn't help but lean into the feeling of the towel over his hand. “You ok?” Pete asked.

 

Patrick meowed at him and reached his paw out towards Pete's face. Pete smiled and Patrick felt a sense of relief. He didn't seem so sad anymore. Clearly, Patrick being a kitten cheered him up. Patrick quickly filed the information away for later.

 

Feeling relatively dry, he crawled out of the towel towards Pete's chest. He didn't move and let Patrick go wherever he was trying to get to. He put his tiny paws on Pete's chest, right over his thorn tattoo on his collarbone and pushed his fluffy head into Pete's neck. He chuckles and took a gentle hold of the tiny furball with his other hand.

 

“Ok, you're going to stay a kitten for the night then?” he asked, getting a small squeak back. He wouldn't understand whatever Patrick said, so he didn't know why he even asked, but when Patrick pawed at Pete's nose and he laughed at the feeling.

 

He stood up and grabbed Patrick's discarded clothes before heading back to the bedroom. He set Patrick  on the floor and Patrick tottered off to his bed to jump up on it. He saw that Pete had got a little bed kind of thing set up on the floor for himself.

 

He went to lay down in it and the little cat began to meow angrily at him. _I don’t fucking think so, guests do not sleep on the fucking floor_. He paid not heed until Patrick let out a few screechy meows. He looked over at the orange kitten, who tapped his paw meaningfully at the bed. Pete tilted his head to the side.

 

“What’s the matter with you?” he asked, and Patrick mewed at him again. He sighed. “What, Patrick?”

 

Patrick meowed in frustration and jumped down off the bed to go over and get a mouthful of his pant leg and tug on it. He was too little to do anything but Pete seemed to get it. “No, Patrick, I’m not...that’s your bed. I can’t…”

 

Patrick cut him off with a loud meow. “Hey! Will you shush? Your mom is gonna think I’m hurting you up here if you keep that up.” Patrick looked at him defiantly and opened his mouth like he was getting ready to meow again. Then Pete's finger was in front of my mouth. Patrick could feel his tail swishing from side to side, and had to resist the urge to pounce on the wiggly digit.

 

“Okay fine, shut up, I’ll sleep in the bed but you are sleeping up here with me and if I squish you in my sleep I will actually cry.”

 

He got up and climbed into the bed. Patrick jumped up beside him and ran up the bed. He eventually lay down on the far side of the bed and settled in to sleep looking way more comfortable. Patrick couldn't _help_ it when he started purring.

  
Pete smiled and closed his eyes. It took a while but he did fall asleep. Patrick stood up and padded over to him, only tripping on the blanket once, and curled himself happily into the little spot on the pillow between his neck and his shoulder. Right under his chin the way it was turned to the side. He started purring again, even louder, and fell asleep easily.


	5. Comfort

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patrick let out a small meow-squeak and ran out of the room. Pete raised an eyebrow and stood there unsure of what to do. Patrick came back in as himself and wearing pajamas. 
> 
> Pete smiled and shook his head. “Still don’t have total control over it?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so you might've noticed this went from being 1st person to 3rd. You can thank ***saverockandsoulpunk*** for that and welcome them. They've agreed to Beta this fic and I'm so happy to have someone helping out. Thank you. 
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy this ^-^ 
> 
> xoxo

_ Pete _

 

Pete woke up to a tiny orange paw in his face, batting at him playfully, and a fuzzy kitten with its face smushed into the pillow. Pete smiled and reached up to touch the kitten’s head and scratch between its ears, but it got up really fast and took off out of the room. Pete sat up and smiled before going after it. He knew it was Patrick - how many other tiny tabby kittens could be in the house? 

 

Pete chuckled as he followed him downstairs to the kitchen where there was a bowl of cereal sitting on the counter. Patrick let out a small meow-squeak and ran out of the room. Pete raised an eyebrow and stood there unsure of what to do. Patrick came back in as himself and wearing pajamas. 

 

Pete smiled and shook his head. “Still don’t have total control over it?” 

 

“No, it sneaks up on me a bit sometimes.” Patrick blushed and looked at his feet. “I’m getting better though...but my brother makes fun of me for it. It was easy for him.” 

 

Pete frowned and held his arms out in offer of a hug. Patrick moved towards him and leaned into his open arms. Pete hugged him tight and buried his face in the boy’s hair, his ear tickling his face. “Ignore him, I struggled with it for a long time too. Not everyone can just get it under control immediately. It’s something you have to learn. You’ll get better at it.” 

 

“It’s been almost two years, thought I’d have a better handle on this,” Patrick muttered and cuddled into the warmth of Pete’s chest. “You’re so warm.” 

 

Pete chuckled and looked down at him. “Kittens have a thing about warm spots, don’t they.” 

 

Patrick nodded looking kind of sleepy. “Like the warm...makes me tired….s’nice.” He purred quietly and his hands started kneading at Pete’s chest. Pete smiled and leaned down a bit to pick Patrick up, the smaller boy squeaking loudly and clinging to Pete as he was carried. Pete grabbed his bowl of cereal and carried it and Patrick to the living room. He set the cereal down on the coffee table and settled himself onto the couch with his friend. Patrick curled up in Pete’s lap and snuggled against him. Pete chuckled and reached for the bowl. 

 

“Thank you for making me a bowl of cereal. Did you eat already?” Pete looked down at Patrick. 

 

Patrick nodded gently. “Yeah, I was waiting for you to wake up and then I thought I heard you get up so I poured the cereal and then a shift surprised me. I waited a bit and then decided maybe I should wake you up before the cereal got soggy,” he said quietly, giving a tiny yawn and looking up at Pete. He smiled and Pete grinned around the spoon. Patrick giggled and laid his head back down, tracing his fingers over the ring of thorns tattoo. 

 

Pete smiled and ate his cereal quietly for a while. He glanced over at the clock and smiled, they had a few hours to kill before practice. He finished the last bit of cereal and set the bowl back on the table. He wrapped his arms tightly around Patrick, who hummed happily and purred. Pete after a while found himself drifting off a bit until he completely dozed off. 

 

~~~~~

 

Pete woke up to find Patrick was gone and so was his cereal bowl. In its place there was a note in Patrick’s writing. 

 

_ Pete _

 

_ Had to run an errand for Mom, will be back in an hour or so.  _

 

_ Patrick :) _

 

Pete sighed and sat up. He tried to think of the last time he’d cuddled with someone like that. Certainly not any of his random hookups. Not even any of the girls he’d dated in the last few years: he’d never really wanted to. His friends didn’t cuddle. It was just Patrick. 

 

It had felt good... Patrick was one of those people you couldn’t  _ not _ be happy about. He was a little ray of sunshine. Right now though, Pete couldn’t shake the feeling that his sunshine wasn’t where he needed it to be. Pete whined to himself. He knew Patrick would be back soon, but he just couldn’t help but wish he wasn’t gone. 

 

He shook his head. That was weird and he needed to stop doing it immediately. 

 

He got up and wandered out to the kitchen to get a glass of water. He wasn’t sure why, but he started thinking about what would happen if the band didn’t work out. What if Patrick didn’t want to hang out anymore? Maybe he’d get a job and just wouldn’t have time for Pete. He wouldn’t blame the kid, either. Pete was a college dropout with no hopes of a real future. Patrick was smart and talented as hell. The kid was going places, with or without Fall Out Boy. 

 

Pete felt like there was someone sitting on his shoulders as the weight of his thoughts started to get to him. He forgot about the water and wandered down to the practice room. He tried playing his bass for a bit but it didn’t help. He wasn’t sure why this bothered him so much or why he was even thinking about such a remote thing that might never happen. The only thing he knew was it hurt and it cluttered up his head with a million other thoughts relating to how goddamn useless and worthless he was. 

 

He kicked off his borrowed pants and shifted into his wolf form to shove himself beside the couch. Sometimes being in this form helped more. That didn’t seem to be the case today and he whimpered, bringing his paw up over his face. He hated this. As he fell asleep, he vaguely realised that he wasn’t sure when he last took his meds.

 

~~~~~

 

_ Patrick _

 

Running errands for his mom took a little longer than he thought it would but when he got home Pete wasn’t on the couch where he had been. Patrick looked around the house and found nothing. He frowned and raised an eyebrow when he thought he heard something. Listening more carefully led him to the basement.

 

When he realized it was a small whimpering sound that had to be Pete, he rushed down the stairs and looked around until he saw Pete’s nose sticking out from beside the couch. Patrick frowned and remembered his kitten form cheered Pete up. Patrick stripped down where he knew Pete couldn’t see and toddled over to him. He was barely bigger than Pete’s snout and Pete was apparently a fairly small wolf. Patrick gently pawed at Pete’s nose but got no response from him. 

 

Patrick nudged Pete with his own nose. He huffed indignantly and walked over Pete’s head to nuzzle into the soft fur of his neck. When that didn’t work he walked back over Pete’s head again to sit by his ears and persistently lick the side of his face. Patrick was entirely aware that that was a cat’s, and a wolf’s, form of a kiss but he didn’t care. He wanted Pete to feel better and if kissing the shit out of the side of Pete’s face helped he was entirely fine with that.

 

Pete whined and looked at Patrick. Patrick just looked back and then suddenly Pete was licking up the side of the small kitten, causing him to squeak in distress and paw at the big wolf. Pete sat up and looked down at Patrick, nosing at the small creature, who leaned into it. Pete reached over onto the couch and grabbed the pants Patrick had given him. Patrick moved out of the way and as Pete wandered upstairs to change somewhere, Patrick took the opportunity to get dressed himself. He at least had boxers and his shirt on when Pete came wandering back down.  

 

“Oh, sorry...did you want me to give you a minute?” Pete asked carefully when he saw Patrick still getting dressed. 

 

“It’s fine, just my jeans,” Patrick said as he stepped into them and wiggled to get them up. Pete curled up on the couch and Patrick moved over to sit beside him. “What’s wrong?” Pete looked sideways at him and shook his head. “You were fine earlier, what happened while I was gone?” 

 

“Nothing.” Pete shook his head again but Patrick gave him a look that called him on his bullshit. Pete sighed and leaned his head against the back of the couch. “You shouldn’t have to deal with my crap.” 

 

“For one thing, you’re my friend, so I will happily deal with your so called crap when you need me to. And for two, if I’m gonna be in a band with you and this is something important, I’m gonna find out sooner or later so you might as well come out with it now.” 

 

Pete frowned at Patrick but didn’t seem to see where he could be wrong in his statement. “It’s just my head, I overthink things and get worked up and upset over nothing and I lose control over it.” 

 

“Have you talked to someone about it?” Patrick looked at Pete worriedly. 

 

“Yeah, I got a label and some prescriptions.” Pete looked like he might tear up. “That was when I was fifteen. I even have to go to therapy every other friday.” 

 

“That’s where you disappear to.” Patrick realized and it made sense. Pete nodded. “So...you’re actually not ok then, there’s something wrong…?” 

 

“Bipolar disorder and anxiety. Fucks with my moods and my thoughts, messes everything up and makes my mind hell on earth.” Pete looked over at Patrick, waiting for him to say something. 

 

“You said you were on medication...have you been taking them?” Patrick asked carefully. 

 

“No, I think I’ve missed like...a couple weeks…” Pete frowned and avoided looking at Patrick. Patrick pulled out his phone, texting Andy and Joe -  _ no practice tonight, something came up but don’t worry it’s ok _ \- and shoving it back in his pocket. He grabbed Pete’s hand and pulled him off the couch. “No, Patrick, what are you doing?” 

 

Patrick shoved his feet in his shoes and put on his hat, before tucking in his tail. “We’re going to your house, getting you your medication and I’m going to personally make sure you take them. You can’t fuck around with stuff like that, Pete.” 

 

“No!” Pete’s eyes went wide. “No...I’ll go get them and bring them here if you want me to...just...stay here.” 

 

“Pete…?” Patrick looked worried and then remember that Pete didn’t like his mom’s boyfriend. Patrick still wasn’t sure on the reasoning for that. “What are you worried about?” 

 

“I...my mom’s boyfriend...he’s an asshole.” Pete looked down at his feet and Patrick started to wonder just how bad he was.

 

“Does he…” Patrick never finished his sentence because the look on Pete’s face gave him the answer. Patrick heard the front door and his mom’s keys on the counter. “We’ll go get your meds and an overnight bag, you can stay here a little while.” 

 

“I…”

  
“Shush! I don’t wanna hear it, or I’ll tell my mom.” Patrick gave him a no fucking around look and Pete was silenced. 


	6. Breakfast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I come bearing leftover pancakes as an apology for Pete’s rude method of waking you.” Patrick held up the bag and Joe took it from him.
> 
> “Apology accepted, you are forgiven. Pete isn’t, but you are.” Joe grinned and laughed at the offended look on Pete’s face.
> 
> “I bought those, you fucker.” Pete whacked him up the back of the head with a pillow. Joe laughed and pushed Pete away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uhhh so hey...it's been a while...whoops. Here's an update though...hope you like it

_ Pete _

 

It had been a couple years of crashing on couches and renting shitty apartments with shitty so-called friends. Things hadn’t gone smoothly with his mom’s boyfriend and she chose him over Pete. Patrick had offered Pete a home with him but he couldn’t do that to Patrick and made him promise not to tell his mom. 

 

They were getting somewhere though. They had an album...an actual recorded album. And no, if you asked anyone in the band ‘Evening Out With Your Girlfriend’ did not fucking count, it sucked. They hated it. ‘Take This To Your Grave’, though, now that was good to them. They loved it and were proud of this one. They were even starting a tour. They’d done “tours” before but those never really left the borders of how far they could drive in one day. So not outside Illinois really. This was bigger. They were going to other states. Still only in their crap van. They’d put an old air mattress in the back and piled their equipment around it. It wasn’t the best but it worked and they had enough blankets and pillows to make up for the fact that the mattress never fully inflated. They tried to get rooms in motels and whatever as often as they could afford to, for comfortable beds but also for the promise of a hot shower. 

 

Tonight was not one of those nights. Joe and Andy were just ahead of Pete walking back from the convenience store they’d found for snack, they were discussing the difficulty of some level of a video game and Pete was a little lost. Patrick was in the van curled up napping when they left. He’d tuckered himself out and wanted no part of the snack run as long as Pete remembered to get him his favourite chips. Pete had, in fact, remembered and he carried some candy, his chips and Patrick’s in the little grocery bag hanging off his wrist. 

 

Joe tossed Pete the van keys and he had to scramble to catch them. “We’re gonna see if we can find a Blockbuster or something to find this goddamn game.” 

 

Pete nodded and rolled his eyes. They turned off to go find what they were looking for. He wasn’t sure what they were gonna do when they found it, it wasn’t like they had a gaming system to play it on or anything and they wouldn’t be here long enough to bother with renting it. He walked in the quiet night, only the swish of his plastic bag and the hard thunk of his steps on the pavement breaking it. It wasn’t cold at least, he liked that about the summer nights. You could walk around outside without fearing that you’d catch your death just by breathing in the cold air. 

 

When he got to the van he unlocked the back door and climbed in to close it. He didn’t lock it again. If he did the others couldn’t get in and he didn’t think he was going to sleep anyways. He stashed the bag inside of one of Andy’s drums like they always did. If they could fit it inside the drums they did. Saved on space and made less that they’d have to move around to make space on the mattress. Patrick was curled up just where they’d left him, snoring softly and cuddling with Pete’s pillow. He smiled a little. He was more than sure it was his shirt Patrick was wearing too. Their laundry got mixed a lot and he didn’t mind Patrick stealing his shirts and hoodies. Andy had done it too. Pete wasn’t sure what shirts were his half the time anymore. 

 

He crawled around carefully till he was laying beside Patrick, facing him. He wouldn’t take the pillow away but he would watch Patrick sleep. He was so cute and so peaceful. Pete wasn’t sure when exactly he’d fallen so hard for the little kitten but he knew he had. He could feel it in every beat his heart skipped when Patrick smiled just at him. He doubted if Patrick would ever feel the same though. Pete discovering he was Bisexual took him for a bit of a loop but he’d never thought much of it either way. He loved who he loved and that was that. He doubted Patrick would feel the same though. He was fairly sure he was straight, he’d been checking out a girl the other day and tried to pretend he wasn’t but it was kind of obvious. It’d happened a couple of times but Pete had never caught him checking out any guys. 

 

Patrick stirred a little in his sleep and whined at whatever he was dreaming about. Pete smiled and brushed some stray hair out of his face. Patrick leaned into the touch and Pete ran his fingers through the hair near his ears, making him hum and cuddle into the pillow more. Pete couldn’t help but chuckle a little and he didn’t mean to wake Patrick but he opened his eyes groggily and looked at Pete. It took only a second before he pushed the pillow up out of the way and opted for cuddling Pete instead, snuggling his face into his chest. Pete went still and watched Patrick for a minute. He probably wasn’t really awake. He pulled his pillow over to tuck it under his head and wrapped an arm around Patrick, holding him close and letting him cuddle into his warmth. He hummed and nuzzled into Patrick’s hair in the space between his ears, breathing in his scent and holding onto this one night he could pretend everything was fine. 

 

~~~~~

 

_ Patrick _

 

Patrick grumbled as he woke up and couldn’t move. Someone was wrapped tightly around him. He wiggled enough to look up and see it was Pete. He smiled and wondered how he’d ended up cuddled with Pete but he didn’t really care. It was nice. Pete was always warm. He turned his head to see Andy was behind him facing the other way against the wall. Joe was probably on Pete’s other side. Patrick didn’t move too much, he didn’t want to wake Pete up. He had the sneaking suspicion that the older boy really hadn’t been sleeping much at all. He also didn’t want Pete to push him away. He didn’t think he would but there was always that little fear in the back of his mind. He spent most of his time watching Pete, even on stage. He kind of had to keep an eye on him when they were on stage, the fucker was fond of sneak attacks and kissing Patrick’s neck unexpectedly. Patrick tried not to think anything of Pete’s stage antics, they couldn’t possibly mean anything but he always kind of hoped they did. 

 

He knew Pete had dated girls, he knew he took girls to bed when he had the chance. They all did except Patrick. They’d tried to hook him up with someone once but he’d politely declined for several reasons. The first being that he respected woman more than to use them and ditch them. The second being that Patrick was incredibly gay and he knew it. He’d known it since high school. He’d been watching a girl yesterday trying to figure out if that was actually a hidden tail he saw just out of curiosity and Pete had given him a look. Pete thought he’d been checking the girl out but the only person he ever checked out was Pete when he wasn’t paying attention. He watched people sure but never with anything in his mind other than simple fascination. People watching was entertaining. Pete watching was irritating. 

 

Pete made a weird little noise and shifted in his sleep as he started to wake up and stretched out. Patrick could hear the pops of his joints and moved back away from him a little. Pete opened his eyes slowly and looked down at Patrick. He smiled and mumbled what sounded like “Good Morning.” 

 

“Morning.” Patrick smiled softly back and watched Pete fully wake up and assess where he was. He seemed unbothered by anything but he rarely was this early in the morning. Patrick wasn’t sure how he survived on so little sleep. It was about seven in the morning he guessed from the lighting. Patrick hated being awake this early but he’d gone to sleep early enough last night so that he could be up early to work on some stuff. Pete was always up early no matter how late he went to bed and it perplexed Patrick. Sometimes he was convinced that Pete just never went to sleep. Pete looked around and wrinkled his nose at Joe behind him and looked over at Andy. He looked down at Patrick and sighed. 

 

“I’ve still got a little pocket money left, wanna go find breakfast and maybe some coffee?” Pete smiled and sat up a little. 

 

“That’s your spending money.” Patrick shook his head and curled up tighter. 

 

“Yeah and I want to spend it on breakfast so we can get out of this damn van and eat a hot meal.” Pete rolled his eyes and tugged at the blanket Patrick had wrapped himself up in. “Come on.” 

 

Patrick grumbled and carefully got up to follow Pete out of the back of the van, making sure to grab the keys and their hats on the way out so they could lock the van again so Andy and Joe could sleep safe. “Hey!” Patrick grabbed ahold of  the back of Pete’s before he could get too far from the van. “Your tail is sticking out and put your beanie on, idiot.” 

 

Pete halted and turned around to face Patrick. “Sorry, forgot, not used to having to be fully dressed and hidden first thing still.” He reached behind him to make sure his tail was hidden and then took the beanie from Patrick. He lay his ears as flat as he could and pulled the hat over them. Then he swiped Patrick’s hat and put it on his head, tucking his fluffy little ears under it and adjusting it so his hair wasn’t sticking up funny under the trucker cap. “There, that’ll do.” He grabbed Patrick’s hand and led him off in the direction of the breakfast place he’d seen yesterday. 

 

Patrick did his best to keep up with Pete, he wasn’t tall by any means but he was taller than Patrick and had longer legs. When they got to the place it was busy and warm inside. An overtired looking waiter seated them in a booth in the back corner that still had a couple plates on it. He cleaned it quickly for them and came back with a couple of menus. They both got coffee and pancakes and tried to be simple about it. The waiter looked grateful for that. It took a little longer than it should have for their coffee to get to them but Patrick blamed the asshole with three kids and a bad attitude that was complaining about some trivial nonsense and taking up the poor waiter’s time. About three other people bitched about waiting and Patrick refused to be one of them. He smiled and thanked him sweetly when he set their coffees on the table. He looked up at Pete as he sipped his coffee to see him staring and smiling. 

 

“What?” He asked, a hint of confusion colouring his voice. 

 

“You’re too good for this world I swear. Most people would’ve complained, even I would have probably but you’re just nice.” Pete shook his head and sipped his coffee. 

 

“Well it’s not his fault it’s busy in here and that that asshat decided to waste his time complaining, and he can’t exactly refuse to hear the complaint or he’ll probably lose his job. He looks tired and stressed and there is no reason to be a dick to him.” Patrick shrugged and went back to his coffee. “No use being a dick to anyone if they don’t one hundred percent totally deserve it.” 

 

Pete smiled and shook his head again. Patrick had never understood the use in being rude to customer service people, they had jobs to do and put up with enough crap from other customers and their bosses and they only made minimum wage usually. He also believed in basic human decency but apparently this wasn’t a common thing among most people. Pete was usually nice too but he had a limit of what he’d put up with and Patrick knew that, apparently slow coffee was included in the over the limit file but he wasn’t surprised. You don’t mess with someone’s caffeine source first thing in the morning. 

 

When their pancakes came out finally they looked really good and Patrick thanked the waiter again and dug into his food happily when he walked away. Pete made a happy little noise that bordered on a moan but Patrick couldn’t blame him. They didn’t get a lot of good hot meals on the road and McDonald’s barely counted as a meal to begin with...nor was it really good, it was just food and cheap. They ate slowly, enjoying it. Neither of them could finish the huge portions so they got to go boxes to take it back to Andy and Joe. Pete paid and they headed back out. Andy probably wouldn’t want any but Joe would be excited about it. They weren’t sure how vegan friendly the pancakes were but it could never hurt to offer. 

 

They walked slower on their way back, in no particular hurry. Pete stayed close to Patrick and leaned into him a little as they walked. Patrick wasn’t sure why but he slipped his hand into Pete’s and neither of them moved to stop it. It was just comfortable and felt normal. Pete’s hand was big and warm and felt reassuring when he gave Patrick’s hand a gentle squeeze. They stopped at a crosswalk as they waited for the light to change and Patrick looked up at Pete. He was a perplexing person and Patrick could never figure out what it was about him but he loved him more than he’d ever loved anyone. As they got back to the van Patrick took his hand back and opened the van to find the other two sleeping exactly as they’d left them. Pete grinned evilly and handed Patrick the food in favour of jumping in the van to loudly wake up a very disgruntled Andy and a whiny Joe. Patrick couldn’t help but laugh when they both beat the crap out of Pete with their pillows. When they’d settled down Joe looked at Patrick and saw the bag in his hand. 

 

“Food?” He asked curiously. 

 

“I come bearing leftover pancakes as an apology for Pete’s rude method of waking you.” Patrick held up the bag and Joe took it from him. 

 

“Apology accepted, you are forgiven. Pete isn’t, but you are.” Joe grinned and laughed at the offended look on Pete’s face. 

 

“I bought those, you fucker.” Pete whacked him up the back of the head with a pillow. Joe laughed and pushed Pete away. Andy shook his head and rolled his eyes as he climbed out of the van to stretch. 

 

“Sorry we didn’t bring anything back for you.” Patrick smiled at Andy who shrugged. 

 

“I stocked up on good food last night, it’s fine.” Andy smiled back and hugged Patrick gently. 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm always online somewhere if you wanna chat...  
> you can find me @ thePetetoherPat on Twitter and thepetetoherpatrick.tumblr.com ^-^
> 
> hit me up whenever xoxo


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